BG Homeowner and DIY Thread - Out of the Basement Edition

[Julian]

So, thinking of putting in an offer on a home we really liked, with a huge .72 acre lot. The only problem is the house is kinda small - 1900 sqft. There's a couple small things we'd fix (extend laundry room, add a powder room off of the living room), but anything else would require some huge re-work. Other big issue is the master has super tiny closet space, and a small bathroom (only space for 1 sink, no tub.. it's currently the master bath AND the guest bathroom, hence the powder room addition), and the two upstairs bedrooms are a bit cramped, tiny closets, etc...

So, with the small updates (and even those could wait), it would be livable for a few years for sure. But looking at kids in the near future, there really doesn't feel like there's enough space for that.

Current owner already has architectural plans for some huge remodel (adds proper master to 1st floor, expands kitchen, expands 2nd floor and adds a huge bonus room), but that would likely cost 100-150k to do. We have some other ideas as well, like moving the garage up to match the front of the house, then converting the existing garage area into more living space, possibly expanding the 2nd floor over the garage as well (rough "idk wtf I'm doing" googling seems like that would be anywhere from 70-100k, possibly more.)

The nice thing about this house is the AWESOME location and huge lot. But we would eventually need to extend the house. There's obviously space for it, I just don't know how I feel about having to spend all that extra money on it. :/

I dunno, anyone have any experience with additions, any thoughts or advice?

[Jaybar]

I abhor garages that front or even pop out from the face of a home. The biggest travesty to home design that we've seen in this century. Like a massive wart on your face.

That being said, sounds like a great home if you plan to slowly remodel it to fit your future needs. Doesn't make sense to build out now and pay for the added expenses if you don't need it. Also ask yourself if you absolutely require a larger lot over a smaller house. Where do you see yourself spending more of your time?

[Julian]

Threw up the floor plans here >.> https://oimg.photobucket.com/albums/...psbvkjmkrq.png

I love the look from the front, and yeah, I hate houses that just... look like a big box. (Especially when it's all siding -- yuck.) But at the same time, those window "pop out" areas look kinda nice but are worthless and completely unusable for an adult. Another thought I had was to maybe build out the second floor to those windows? That's a decent amount of added space, and suddenly you have space for a really nice master bathroom. Dunno how that would end up looking from the front, though. The ceilings on the second floor aren't super high and there's a good bit of slanting from the roof, so even though those are some decent sized rooms, they feel super cramped.

The main problem I have is, having never owned a home, I have *no idea* what we would or would not use. Right now we're in a decent sized apt (1132 sqft), but we basically each live in one of the 2 rooms, the living room is completely unused, and the kitchen is shit. We want a single master that doesn't double as TV/gaming rooms, but then we would probably each take a room to set up separate personal areas (bonus rooms we've seen have looked AWESOME for this - love me some FROG's!!) and I would like to be able to split my area out into a separate office as well. (Especially w/ all the WFH shit going on, though that may eventually go away.)

I would personally love a larger home (somewhere between 2400~2800 sqft) with a smaller but still decent lot (ideally around .5? Though anything above .3ish is probably good, provided there isn't much wasted space *cough*corner lots*cough*), but that has been challenging to find, and may just not exist in the area we want within our budget. Newer construction just fits as many homes as they can into tiny .2 or smaller lots. And when we do find something decent, the garage is tiny as fuck. (>400 is one of hubby's requirements, ideally >500, and anything above that being a super huge plus)

So.. we kinda really like this house. And we could probably live there a few years with minimal work, get a good idea of what we like, what we use, etc., and then build on to it once we know what we want and that we'll be wanting to stay there a good while, but I also kinda hate the thought of putting in like 100-150k(+?) and getting way less than that back if we were to sell. (So much money spent that could go towards building up retirement... :<)

[Malithar]

Also ask yourself if you absolutely require a larger lot over a smaller house. Where do you see yourself spending more of your time?

This is a key thing to stress. More land is nice if you have plans for it. During my search, I had to talk myself down from a few places that had nice lots. I won't be spending a ton of time outside, no kids, no plans for a pool, basketball court, etc. A larger lot without plans is just more upkeep.

The main problem I have is, having never owned a home, I have *no idea* what we would or would not use. Right now we're in a decent sized apt (1132 sqft), but we basically each live in one of the 2 rooms, the living room is completely unused, and the kitchen is shit. We want a single master that doesn't double as TV/gaming rooms, but then we would probably each take a room to set up separate personal areas (bonus rooms we've seen have looked AWESOME for this - love me some FROG's!!) and I would like to be able to split my area out into a separate office as well. (Especially w/ all the WFH shit going on, though that may eventually go away.)

I can relate to this. My apartment was a glorified studio apartment really. I had a tiny kitchen and bathroom I used, and other than that, I lived out of my bedroom with my computer/TV. The best advice I got was from my mom and realtor. They told me to focus on 3 must haves and 3 deal breakers. This allowed me to focus on homes that actually met my needs or future plans, rather than getting caught up in the excitement of buying a first home. For me, my must haves were: 1) Basement 2) Driveway 3) a large enough backyard for a small garden, but not much more. My 3 deal breakers were: 1) Water damage 2) Main/busy streets 3) No central HVAC (surprisingly number of places use alt. heating sources with window ACs here).

It doesn't seem like much as far as criteria go, but it really helped me focus on the houses that met what I was looking for, rather than looking at a dozen houses with each one being a candidate. The way you're talking about the upgrades, it sounds like you've got them in mind and are willing to do them. If the house meets your needs now and you accept the future upgrades, I'd say go for it. Keep in mind home value in the area too though. If you see yourself selling the house in the future once you've outgrown it or gotten tired of it, it can be difficult to recoup hundreds of thousands in upgrades if the home has outscaled others in the area. If more modest upgrades would be an option, those could help control that spending without losing big in the long run.

[Julian]

We'd definitely like to get a dog in <1 year, and kids are probably, realistically, 2-3 years away? I have no idea what to expect from adoption, so that's a huge question mark right now. Like, we could try to get a super young kid, or maybe siblings, maybe younger, maybe older... I have no fucking idea. 0.72 acres feels a bit overkill for me, but there's definitely a vision for it. Plant some trees, landscape, huge area for a dog to run around in, and we'd definitely like to add a pool at some point. (I can just see the $'s adding up in my head. ;-; )

As for resale, this house is in a small road, not a subdivision (No HOA! Fuck yeah!), so it doesn't really have a neighborhood to compare against or price itself out of. There's like 7 houses along the street, around the same price range, some -30k, one +120k, but the houses are all vastly different. (I still feel like they'd be compared to each other price-wise anyway?) It's in a super nice part of town. Lots of stuff nearby in similar price ranges, but also a ton of houses nearby (like one street over nearby) that are 2-2.5x this house. (Obviously much nicer and larger houses, but also nowhere near as much space.) (Edit: And some million dollar homes just three streets over.. jeez)

[Jaybar]

Threw up the floor plans here >.> https://oimg.photobucket.com/albums/...psbvkjmkrq.png

I love the look from the front, and yeah, I hate houses that just... look like a big box. (Especially when it's all siding -- yuck.) But at the same time, those window "pop out" areas look kinda nice but are worthless and completely unusable for an adult. Another thought I had was to maybe build out the second floor to those windows? That's a decent amount of added space, and suddenly you have space for a really nice master bathroom. Dunno how that would end up looking from the front, though. The ceilings on the second floor aren't super high and there's a good bit of slanting from the roof, so even though those are some decent sized rooms, they feel super cramped.

The main problem I have is, having never owned a home, I have *no idea* what we would or would not use. Right now we're in a decent sized apt (1132 sqft), but we basically each live in one of the 2 rooms, the living room is completely unused, and the kitchen is shit. We want a single master that doesn't double as TV/gaming rooms, but then we would probably each take a room to set up separate personal areas (bonus rooms we've seen have looked AWESOME for this - love me some FROG's!!) and I would like to be able to split my area out into a separate office as well. (Especially w/ all the WFH shit going on, though that may eventually go away.)

I would personally love a larger home (somewhere between 2400~2800 sqft) with a smaller but still decent lot (ideally around .5? Though anything above .3ish is probably good, provided there isn't much wasted space *cough*corner lots*cough*), but that has been challenging to find, and may just not exist in the area we want within our budget. Newer construction just fits as many homes as they can into tiny .2 or smaller lots. And when we do find something decent, the garage is tiny as fuck. (>400 is one of hubby's requirements, ideally >500, and anything above that being a super huge plus)

So.. we kinda really like this house. And we could probably live there a few years with minimal work, get a good idea of what we like, what we use, etc., and then build on to it once we know what we want and that we'll be wanting to stay there a good while, but I also kinda hate the thought of putting in like 100-150k(+?) and getting way less than that back if we were to sell. (So much money spent that could go towards building up retirement... :<)

Cute dormer windows, really adds some street charm - but at the cost of usable space (as mentioned). The plans seem to have accounted for the low ceilings, and that usable space is pretty large. Anywhere below 6'8" is considered "low ceiling" and, depending on the jurisdiction and zoning laws, not considered part of the overall square footage of a home (think things like attics or crawl spaces). But that low area is still accessible, good place for trunks or storage.

There are going to be maximum allowable square footage requirements in every city, so getting an understanding of how much you are allowed to expand is critical. Looking at the plans I would ideally trash the first floor bedroom and make it an office/game room and turn the bathroom into a .5 bath/vanity. Turn one or both 2nd floor bedrooms into the new master and expand the bathroom to account for low ceilings. I really like the "feel" of vaulted ceilings in a room that this house could offer. Alternatively you can make a 2nd office on the 2nd floor with the intention of maybe converting to a bedroom if your future plans change.

[Ksandra]

Guys I found my house:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...JKMXSBQ#photo0

[Jaybar]

Old house? Its super cute I love it.

[Obiron]

I was thinking, hey this is kind of a cool house. Oh wait, what's behind that steel vault door? Uhh....

You're gonna get competition bidding on this one. :shutupandtakemymoney:

[Ksandra]

Old house? Its super cute I love it.

Might wanna see all the pictures first.

[Melena]

Can't tell if doll house, an orphanage, a jail, or an s&m dungeon.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Jaybar]

Well you gotta lead with that!!! Anyway its a historic jail and sheriffs house.

[TsingTao]

It is not only adorable and loaded with character but it's a unique rental/AirBnB opportunity.

I like it.

[Ksandra]

On a more somber note, we may need to throw in the towel on house buying. I was reading a reddit thread about LA (Northridge which is south of my area) that people are bidding 100k over asking price.


I don’t think we are going to be able to get something realistic.

[archibaldcrane]

House down the street from me just went for 930k, was listed for 850.

[archibaldcrane]

There were 7 or 8 offers on my house, I wasn't even the high offer - but I sent a personal letter with a photo of my beautiful white children and voila!

Was listed for 739k, offered 765k but then after inspection asked for 12k in credits and got them so it sold for 753k.

[archibaldcrane]

Anyway, just keep plugging away, I offered on 8 places before getting my first house back in 2011.

[Ksandra]

We’re doing the letter with a photo, too, but the most we can do over the appraisal is 10k. Not even close to what people are doing.

[Ksandra]

I fucked us over I think. My agent recommended a rent back with our buyer, and it sounded great so I said yes. Now I find out you can only legally do a rent back for one month.

We could end up homeless, guys. I totally fucked up about doing this.

[synistar]

There's always Porter Ranch...

[NOSE BLEEDING INTENSIFIES]

Damn that would have been a good time to buy.